Another five miles later and I’ve found my zone, that place where I am in control, where my emotions are nonexistent. We slow to a walk, and I bring Emily up to speed on my phone call with Seth and my mother, as well as my changing thoughts on Derek. “I can’t keep this from him until we know more and trust my mother won’t let it slip. I need to control how he hears the news.”
“I agree,” she says, and I’m already pulling my phone from my pocket again and dialing my brother, who answers on ring number one. “You do know I’ll be at work in an hour, right?”
“Pops had a reaction to his medication. He’s incapacitated.”
“I want our company back,” he says, sounding remarkably calm. “What does this mean?”
“I’m CEO and I can sign in his behalf, but I don’t want to announce that until we have to.”
“Why?” he asks.
“I want to hold our cards close to the vest and play them as Mike tries to play us.”
“Understood. Just make sure you fuck Mike and fuck him well. You don’t beat a man when he’s down, and that’s what he’s trying to do to Pops.”
“We won’t let him,” I say, ending the call, and a few minutes later, when I step into the shower with Emily, I don’t need the water to wash away anything. I push her against the wall, tangle my fingers in her hair, and let her know exactly what to expect. “Hard and fast is what I can promise you right now. No making love about it.”
“Bring it on,” she replies, and I drive into her. Hard. Fast. Because that’s what I promised, and I keep my promises.
*
Once Emily and I arrive at work, she joins me in my office, and we bring Jessica in as well, filling her in on our plan to dump Brandon Pharmaceuticals.
“I’m confused,” she says, folding her arms in front of the blinding canary-yellow blouse she’s wearing. “Why?”
“Liability,” I say, claiming my seat and pulling out my calendar. “And that’s all you need to know,” I add. “But what I need to know is any critical problem happening in the company that I need to address.” I look at Emily. “And a meeting no later than tomorrow afternoon with the banker my father met with about the sports complex. Can you work your magic and make that happen?”
“Consider it done,” Emily says, hands settling on the waistline-fitted navy skirt she put on this morning for me to take off. Twice.
“Anything else?” Jessica asks.
“Let me know when Derek arrives,” I say. “I need him to help run the company while I work to change how we do business.”
“Will do, Boss,” she says, hurrying toward the outer office, while Emily lingers.
“He might not show up,” she says. “He’s going to look for Teresa. I know he will.”
“Let’s hope not,” I say. “Because the last thing I need right now is Adrian thinking Derek’s behind her disappearance. You seem to work magic on the Brandon men. Can you try to reach him?”
“I will,” she promises. “I’ll let you know.”
She disappears into the hallway, and I tap the calendar in front of me. It’s Wednesday. Mike threw out Monday as a deadline. I know attorneys and strategy. I’m going to get a legal filing on Friday at closing, when his people think I can’t do anything about it. I need to be ready to hit back over the weekend. I open my e-mail and find the information I was sent on Adrian’s consortium, and dial the operations manager to set up a meeting. If I want Adrian to work for me, I’m going to have to do a little work for him.
*
Thursday morning arrives much the same as Wednesday, with only a few variations. Like yesterday, Emily and I go for a run, and we manage to talk to my mother on our walk back. And when she offers no good news about my father, my mood edges on the darker side. That leads to a good, hard shower fuck. Also like yesterday, when I pull the Bentley into the office garage, Derek’s car is missing. “We’re early,” Emily says. “It’s only seven. And you know from Nick that Derek spent the night at a strip club.”
“Exactly why I’m irritated,” I say, exiting the vehicle and rounding the hood to get Emily’s door, before adding, “We’re trying to save the company, and he’s out partying with strippers.”
“Teresa left him and he got bad news about your father,” she reminds me, stepping out of the Bentley.
I shut the door and we start walking. “All the more reason to defeat Adrian and save the company.”
“I know,” she says, and we step onto the elevator, making the quick ride to the lobby level before stepping into another car leading to our floor.
Once we’re inside and the doors are sealed, she steps in front of me, her tiny hands at my waist, under my jacket, and I am struck by how easily she touches me now. How much I want her to. How close I am to this woman. “He’s not you, Shane. He’s not all hard steel and unbreakable strength.”
“That’s how you see me?”
“Yes,” she says, those beautiful eyes of hers filled with warmth and pride, her hand brushing my cheek. “Yes, I do.”
“And you know what?” I say, snagging her hand and kissing it, fierceness in my answer. “When you say things like that to me, when you look at me like you are now, I want to live up to your expectations. I really want to live up to them.”
“And you think Derek just talks,” she supplies, reading my thoughts.
“Don’t you?”
“I think he has good intentions.”
“Intentions don’t run this company or save it.”
“He’s hurt right now. He’s damaged.” She flattens her hand on my heart. “He’s your brother.”
“Who pulled a gun on me.”
“Right. I did say damaged, remember?”
“I’m not trying to be coldhearted, sweetheart. But the clock is ticking on our father’s life and the survival of his company.” The elevator dings, the doors opening on our floor, and we step into the corridor as I add, “And Lord help us all if Derek looks for Teresa and somehow gains Adrian’s attention again.”
“He won’t,” she says, walking with me toward the lobby. “He’s not that foolish. That’s my gut, and I think it’s right.”
I reach for the glass door and hold it open for her. “Because you have a way with the Brandon men.”
“I’m good with you,” she says, pausing beside me. “You said so this morning in the shower.” She gives me a gorgeous, sexy smile and darts away, and while my blood heats and my heart warms for this woman, I find myself staring after her for another reason. It’s not just me she’s good with. Emily handles the Brandon men like a lion tamer who knows her different beasts, and by the time I’m at my desk, I dial hers. “You’re the one who talked to Derek and shook some sense into him the other day. He came to me because of you.”
“If you’re about to ask me to call him, I’ve tried. Yesterday and today, but I’ll keep trying. And it’s still early. We’re the only ones here. He could show up.”
“Right,” I say, releasing the intercom button and removing my cell from my pocket to hit Nick’s auto-dial. “If my brother isn’t here by noon, get someone to shake him out of bed. We have a meeting with a group of investors at three.”
“That could get brutal,” he says.
“So will Adrian if I don’t control him, and that means getting him here and keeping him busy.”